El Bulli: the last meal – in pictures

Spanish chef Ferran Adrià appears for the press before the last dinner service at his El Bulli restaurant in Roses, northern Spain. El Bulli, the beachside Spanish restaurant repeatedly crowned the world's best, is closing after pushing the boundaries of cuisine for more than two decades Photograph: Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images

A member of the kitchen staff at El Bulli prepares herbs for the last meal Photograph: Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images

Working on the last meal at El Bulli Photograph: Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images

Ferran Adrià has said El Bulli will reopen in 2014 as a culinary thinktank Photograph: Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images

Adrià's El Bulli has become famous for its elaborate food preparation techniques and unexpected combinations of flavour and texture Photograph: Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images

Would-be diners have for years found it more or less impossible to get a table at the perennially booked-out El Bulli Photograph: Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images

A tray of Ferran Adrià's culinary concoctions is readied for service Photograph: Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images

Kitchen staff work on the last El Bulli meal Photograph: Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images

Ferran Adrià and his staff pose for a photograph before the last dinner Photograph: Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images